Apparatus for producing sheet glass



Aug. 19, 1952 J. DRAKE 2,607,168

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING SHEET GLASS Filed Aug. 20, 1945 2 SHEETS-SHEET l Zhwentor @165 L. DKAKE Aug. 19, 1952 DRAKE 2,607,168

I APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING SHEET GLASS Filed Aug. 20, 1945 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 Bnventor 35 (/OHN L. DFAKF,

(lttorneg Patented Aug. 19, 1952 Ar'rARa'rUs Fort PRODUCING SHEET GLASS 1 JohmLrDrake, Toledo, Ohio, assignor to Libbey.- Owens-Ford Glass Company, Toledo, Ohio, a

corporation of Ohio H I Application August 20, 1945, Serial No. 611,508

The present invention relates to the manufacture of flatglass. More particularly it has to do with the treatment of a glass sheet or ribbon as it is drawnsfrom a molten bath, and with the conditioning of the atmosphere surrounding 5 more rapidly and so will beabove the average the newly formed sheet. thickness at this point oralong this line in the In all of the well known types of sheet glass finished sheet. On the other hand, areas that drawing machines, of'which there are a number are subjected to excessive heat will continue to in commercial use today, thesheet isdrawn verti attenuate and grow thinner considerably beyond cally from a bath' of molten glass, and-zconsiderthe normal setting up point; and where such conable 'diflilcultyhas-been experienced in attempting ditions alternate with one .another across the to obtain uniform temperatures transversely of sheet they produce permanent streaks, waves and the sheet. .This lack of uniformity; is largely due distortion. to uncontrolled air movements that are naturally Attempts have been made to out down on the set up in these machines, and it is primarily revariations in temperature and theuncontrolled sponsible for the waves, distortion and similar air movements in the drawing chambers by encharacteristic defects of fiat drawn sheet glass. closing these chambers as completely as possi- Toexplain, the temperature of the atmosphere ble from the outside air. This has proved to be above the mass of' molten glass from which the good practice and does reduce the unsatisfacsheet is drawn, in any of the conventional matory on on B t i s ac ion is o out down chines, is of course high; but it is not naturally ath than o o p fi y 1 t difficultyuniform; either across the sheet itself or across There is always a considerable infiltration of its base or 'line of formation.- Instead there is air through such enclosures and the relatively always a stack effect in the machine that car- 161 infilterihg ris d awn i a oss thesheet ries the hot air up along the center line of the in th a er escribed above- In addition this rising sheet, and that also acts to draw relaair brings in dust and other p t s wh h m y tively cool air inwardly from beyond the sheet embed themselves in the soft glass, or m y lodge edges. p upon the rolls with which the sheet comesin con- The cooler air moving toward the center in tact; 150621159 serious D- 9? d turn rises continually as it heats up and expands It is the primary a O is invention 110 P and thus sets up cross currents that vary progresu s et glass of l i l y' he q a y a d sively from 0001 to hot as they flow inwardly substantially free from waves and distortion on past the sheet edges and finally join the stream u r w g a s Ofthe character j of hot air along the path of travel of the sheet. described These continuous cross currents of air of differ- Ano he object is the Provision. of a novel pent temperatures, in combination with the conr s f r a hievin he bove r sults and which t g cur eflts t atnaturally t up along makes it possible to draw such glass in any given the surface of the hot sheet, create an unconthickness atahighel' rate of trolled turbulence in. the atmosphere of the ma- Another ob t is o c un racta d so verchinesdrawing chamber that is anfiever present 4 come he n tural lack of uniformity of temobstacle to the establishment of those uniform Perature and air movements across the sheet/be temperature conditions that are a prime requisite formed in F 5 mac n s y Setting a to the production or 7 glass sheets of high quality positive a d Qn m1 e coolmg action W and uniform thickness; j a r v of-air at thecriticalpoint in the formation of In drawing'a ribbon or sheet of glass from the thefiheetj r surface of a molten mass, there is created what r. b e 'v s. 0 rov the'controned is known as a meniscus or thickened portion at fiOW referred to ve-by recirculation it the base'of the sheet, and this meniscus pulls r alr ady inthe machine and without introprogressively thinner and thinner as the ribbon ducing supplemental ir fromoutsldemoves upward until the glass becomes substan- Another je isihe provision of a uniform tially set in the final sheet thickness. The thicka d relatively'quick ct conditioning o e ness finally attained depends chiefly upon the perature control means which makes use of both viscosity of the glass and the speed at which the radiant and controlled convection cooling. sheet is drawn from the bath; and; since the vis- Still another object islto effect a uniform temcosity of the glass'is dependent on its temperaperature control across the Width of the sheet beture, temperatures that are not constant, or that SCI aims. (ol. 49-17i 2 are uneven or not uniform, will seriously affect the quality of the finished product.-

To illustrate, in areas where relatively cold air strikes the unset glass, it will chill and set up ing formed by subjecting the sheet to accelerated cooling action along spaced, transverse lines, and to reduced cooling action along the wider areas therebetween.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent during the course of the following description, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, wherein like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same:

Fig. l is a longitudinal, vertical sectional view through a sheet glass drawing machine of the Colburn type, showing a preferred embodiment of the apparatus of my invention in position;

Fig. 2 is a view taken substantially along the line 22 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the conditioning or temperature control device of Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 1 illustrating a modified form of the invention;

Fig. 5 is a view taken substantially on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4 with parts of the temperature control device broken away; I

Fig. 6 is an end view of the cooling or conditioning device shown in Figs. 4 and 5;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view similar to Figs. 1 and 4 illustrating still another form of the invention;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view looking in the direction of the arrows on. line 8-8 in Fig. '7, and

Fig. 9 is a modification of the cooler illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 looking at the inner face of the cooler.

This invention can be employed in conjunction with any of the well known or conventional sheet glassdrawing machines, in all of which a ribbon or sheet of glass is continuously drawn from a bath of molten glass in a receptacle that is supplied from a tank furnace. The Colburn type of machine, in connection with which the invention has been illustrated in the drawings, is representative and exhibits and characteristic problems with regard to the atmospheric conditions in the zone of sheet formation.

Thus the Colburn machine itself, which is best shown in Fig. 1, includes a receptacle or draw pot W, at the end of a continuous tank furnace from which it receives a constant supply of properly conditioned molten glass I I, through a cooling chamber l2. A ribbon of glass 13 is drawn vertically from the molten bath I I, being held to width by pairs of knurled rollers l4, rotating within the opposite edges of the meniscus It. The ribbon I3 is then bent into the horizontal plane over a bending roll it before being :passed through a flattening chamber I! and an, annealing leer (not shown), after which it is cut up into individual sheets. The draw pot I8 is mounted on stools I8 in a pot chamber 19 heated by suitable burners (not shown), and lip-tiles 20 and 21 together with lip-tile coolers 22 are provided to protect the rising sheet from blasts of heated air from the furnace and draw pot. The coolers 22 also act to cool the surface of the glass in the molten bath just before it passes into the sheet.

The structure so far described is standard construction for Colburn type machines, which are characterized principally by the fact that the glass ribbon is bent 90 before entering the flattening and annealing zones. In other kinds of sheet glass drawing machines, the sheet is carried through vertically disposed leers, and in still another form the sheet or ribbon is carried upwardly a substantially greater distance than shown here, then cut and transferred as individual sheets to a horizontally disposed leer.

The area of the drawing chamber 23 lying above the surface of the molten glass H and between the lip-tile coolers 22 is referred to herein as the zone of sheet formation. Within this zone is the exposed surface of the glass in the draw pot, the meniscus l5 and the sheet i3 itself. The bending roll [6 is spaced 2. sufficient distance above the molten bath so that the surface of the sheet when it reaches the roll will be set to a point where it will not be marred by the contact, provided of course, that the contacting surfaces are kept clean.

As shown, the drawing chamber 23 is closed to the outside air by closure means 24 at either end of the chamber, which are adapted to enclose or fit tightly around any mounting means, conduits and the like that extend outwardly beyond the ends of the machine proper. Although my invention will give results even without a machine enclosure I prefer to use one because, as pointed out above, it does cut down appreciably on the flow of cold air into the machine, and facilitates the carrying out of my special conditioning technique.

The conditioning device which I employ in Fig. 1 makes it possible to exert a positive and uniform cooling action upon the glass sheet, and at the same time to set up a controlled flow of air over the sheet surface, while it Q15 in its formative stage. 1

Briefly, the apparatus comprises novel combination air and water coolers or heat exchangers 25 and 26, mounted in horizontal alignment with one another at opposite sides of the sheet and a short distance above the molten glass ll. Under normal conditions I position the coolers 2'5 and 26 about as shown in the drawing, which is midway between the molten glass H and the bending roll l6, and also near enough to the sheet to interrupt the flow of natural convection currents that may be set up in contact therewith. However, it may be advantageous to shift the positionof either one or both of them in one direction or another depending on the temperatures used, thickness of sheet being drawn or particular conditions encountered. For this reason it is desirabl to provide the coolers with some sort of universally adjustable mounting (not shown).

In the embodiment of the invention set forth in Figs.l to 3 each of the coolers 25 and 26 includes three tubes, 2'], 28 and 29, diamond shaped in cross section, and arranged in vertical alignment, corner to corner, but slightly spaced from one another. By the term diamond shaped I intend to include a square figure arranged to rest on one of its corners as well as the true diamond shape whose equal sides form two acute and two obtuse angles. The three diamond shaped tubes of each complete cooler are secured in assembled relationship by means of two cylindrical pipes 30 and 3! welded to the angled faces of each two adjacent tubes of the three. This entire unit as just described is simple and economical to make. The members 30 and 3| can be ordinary cylindrical piping, and the tubes 21, 28 and 29 may be sections of regular square, sheet metal tubing which is readily available commercially in stock sizes.

The tubes 21, 28 and 29 are adapted to have a suitable cooling medium, such as water, cirthrough tube 21 'to the end, then into tube 28 and then through to its opposite'end, then into and through tube 29, after which it discharges through outlet pipe 33 (Fig. 2). Of course the heat exchangers and 26 could'be made of a 'singlerectangular casing having a serrated face,

but I considerthe tube construction rigid and more economical.'

Air or gas is-fed into pipe- 3 0 under pressure to exhaust through spaced openingst l arranged to be more along its length, and 'at'the same time air-or gas is drawn into the pipe 3| through similar openings 35 and finally exhausted.- This can be accomplished in a number of different waysbut, as shown in Fig. 2, one satisfactory way is to mount a'blower 36 within the machine enclosure and to connect the pipe to theoutlet and pipe 3! to the intake side of the blower.

Air forced out through the openings- 34 in pipes 30 will pass through the space between the corners of adjacent tubes 2'! to 2'9 and be blown across the face of the sheet 13 at this point. Simultaneously air will be drawn in through the openings in thepipes 3| so that a continuous flow of air will be set up as shown by the arrows in Fig. 1.

It will be noted'that with this arrangement no outside air is used in setting up the controlled air flow. Instead a continuous circulation of the air already in the zone of sheet for- 'mation is efiected'. This has the advantage that a more uniform temperature across the sheet will result, with little or no preconditioning of the air being circulated. Moreover, the use of the air already within the chamber avoids the introduction of dirt and other foreign'm'atter from outside:

The tubes 21, '28 and 29 serve a twofold purpose. In the first place they exert a positive and accelerated line cooling action on the glass sheet opposite the corners 31, combined with a lesser cooling action between these lines. This produces a more uniform cooling action across the sheet than is obtained with any kind of flat cooler. The reason for this lies in the fact that sheet metal of suificient thinness to make satisfactory coolers is usually wavy and of not particular uniform. thickness. Consequently, when a fairly ,wide surface is presented directly to the sheet to be cooled, the cooling action will vary in accordance with the unevenness and lack of uniformity of the sheet metal surface of the cooler.

This is not true of the line cooling because the corners 31 of the coolers can be readily made equidistant from the sheet and substantially equal in their cooling action throughout their length. Moreover, the cooling, action exerted by the fiat portions 33 and 39 of the tubes, and

which forthe reasons given above is less uniform than the line cooling exerted opposite the corners 31 of said tubes, is also of less intensity here because these portions slant sharply away from the sheet. For the same reason their 30 and 3| as to temperature. The flow of this;

tempered airrias itrfpassesrfrom the openings in "one pipe to those the othertends to "further accelerate and distribute itheactionzof'the line cooling on the" sheet, and at. tit-1e same time to further equalize the -:cooling::acticn betweenthe lines. This action is assisted by-theTfact that the flow of tempered. aireis grelatively slow in the spaces between. the i glass ziarr-i'd the: angled sides of the tubes, 'butz-cincrcases sharplyslin velocityas :it flows: through thetnarroiiv spaces between the "glass sheet; and the "corners 31: of

the. tubes.

From this it will also notedrthatither-cooling action of the heat exchangers li and-26 is the result :of two diiferent:-1 types:.of'gcooling; namely, the absorption ofxira'dia'nt heat :by: the

tubes 21, 2,8 and 29, combined with controlled convection cooling by thez air flowing between the. pipes 30 and 3|. i 1' 2- Y The modified form of'corfditioninge apparatus shown in Fig.4 is similar opferationizand advantages to theoneijust -described; Thus, :it too consists of 1a pair-"of heat; exchangers :40 and 41! mountedoneonzeither side ofthe rising sheet 13a. 'Also, each/of itheseheati'exchangers includes a plurality of tubeszthatlare diamond shaped in cross sections: Specifically, in this case a pair 'of vertically aligned'litubes 42 and 13 arranged in slightly spaced relation to "each other are welded by their? corners to one face of a metal platedfi, 'whilera second pair of tubes 44 and 45, similarly arrangedz'are'welded to the opposite face of the platesand: in addition have their adjacent oorners welded together.

The spaces 41 and '48 between thetwo pairs of tubes and the plate 146 rare; closed-at both ends as shown in Fig.6. In'thishw'ay the space 48 forms an air conduit thatxis similar inpurpose to "the pipes Bland 3ldnthewstructure of Figs. 1t03. i

All 'of the tubes 42 to 4'5 are -adapted to have water or other cooling medium circulated therethrough by means of the inlet pipes 49' and 50,

and outlet pipes 51 a nd-EZ-asshQWn; and the cooling action oftubes"4=2 fandflon the "sheet 13a is practically' identical with that of the three diamond shaped'tube's. iniigs; lito 3.: The tubes 4 and on the otherhand serve "to keep the air in the spao'ei48- at thefproper' tem- 'perature and to strengthen the-entire device.

Controlled circulation 'of- 'air along the paths indicated by the arrows Fig..-i4= is effected in this embodiment" by withdrawing. air through the space between the adjacent "corners of the tubes 42 and 43, and thence-through a series of spaced openings 53'" extending theflength of the plate 46. The actual exhausting: of the air in this manner is accomplished by means of a blower 54 mounted within theenclosure and having its intake side connected to the space 48 by means of a pipe 55.; Thei blower' s outlet pipe 56 preferably exhausts within the machine enclosure so that the circulationof air can be effected without disturbing the'baianceof pressure in the enclosure and so' inducing infiltration of outside air. 3 1

The openings 53 'in the plate 46 are preferably of progressively increasing-siz from-the edges of the plate toward its center. This further serves to equalize the cooling action exerted, by withdrawing a larger amountof air from the relatively hot middle of the glass and "a smaller 'amount from the relatively cooler edges. A

corresponding variationinthe sizes. of the. holes 34. and 35 in the pipesi;3fl; ;and-;3-l of Figs. L to ,-3

-can be made to achieve the particular result desired there. 'Thus, as is shown in Fig. 9, the holes 34in the pipe '30 and the holes 35 in the pipe 31 may progressively-decrease in size from the central portions or said pipes outwardly toward the opposite'e'nds thereof.

The modifiedapparatus shown in Figs. 7 and 8 is similartothat of Figs. 4 to 6 except that the tubes-=44 and 45*on one side of the Plate 46 are omitted" and'a pipe 51 provided with openings 58 performs the function of the enclosed space 48 and the holes 53 in Figs. 4 to 6. The principal advantage here is in simplicity of construction. i

Under some circumstances it may be desirable to force air out, rather than to draw it in, past the surface of theig'lass sheet, and outside air may be used in setting up the circulation of air rather than only recirculating the air already in the machine. In fact when the circulation is effected by pressure rather than suction, the use of preconditioned air from the outside may be an advantage in that it will build up a pressure within theenclosure that will positively prevent infiltration of any uncontrolled air currents from the outside.

Curved bottoms have been indicated in the liptile coolers 22 in order to give a spaced line cooling of the surface of glass in the molten bath just itenters the sheet, and to thus supplement the similar cooling action to which the sheet is to be subsequently subjected.

The use of my invention in any of its forms with proper control of the air and water temperatures and pressures will'not only condition and cool the glass sheet more uniformly than has heretofore'been considered possible, but it will also cool it faster "and with no injurious effects. As a consequence sheets of better quality can be drawn from the bath of molten glass, and at a higher rate of speed. This permits greater production from existing'machines, and a further increase "can be effected by the use of wider machines made possible by this remarkably uniform conditioning of the sheet.

In each of the three examples of the invention shown, larger or smaller numbers of the diamond shaped tubes may be used with proper modification of their associated conduits and connections, and in some cases 'a single cooler on one side of'the sheet instead of one on each side may be sufficient. It is also to be understood that various other changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without 'departingfrom the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. In a glass forming machine, a cheat exchanger comprising, a plurality of tubular members diamond shaped incross section arranged one above the other withthe corners of adjacent tubes being in close relation to one another and having an openingfbet'ween said corners, and means at one side of said tubes and in engagement with adjacent tubes for bridging the gap therebetween and presenting openings which provide an air passageway communicating with the openings between said corners of said tubular members.

2. In a glass forming machine, a heat exchanger comprising, a series of tubular members diamond shaped in cross section and arranged in substantial alignment with one another with the corners of adjacent members in close relation but having an opening therebetween, means arranged at one side of said tubular members and associated therewith to provide independent passageways communicating with the openings between each pair of adjacent tubular members, means for supplying a cooling medium under pressure to one of said passageways and means for withdrawing cooling medium from another of said passageways.

3. In a glass forming machine, a heat exchanger comprising, a plurality of tubular members diamond shaped in cross section arranged with the corners of adjacent members in close relationship and with-an opening therebetween, a plate at one side of said members and secured to the corners thereof to bridge the gap therebetween and provide a passageway therealong, a second set of tubular members secured at their corners to said plate substantially opposite to said first-mentioned tubular members to form a passageway behind said plate communicating with the bridged gap and the passageway between the first-mentioned tubular members by way of an opening through said plate, and means for passing air at a pressure other than atmospheric through the passageway behind said plate.

4. In a glass forming machine, a heat exchanger comprising, a plurality of tubular members diamond shaped in cross section arranged with their adjacent corners in close relation but with an opening therebetween, a plate positioned on one side of said members and secured to the corners thereof to bridge the gap therebetween and to form a passageway therealong, and means associated with said plate for setting up a controlled flow of air through the space between the close corners of said tubular members.

5. In apparatus for producing sheet glass including a working receptacle containing a mass of molten glass and means for drawing a ribbon or sheet of glas therefrom; a heat exchanger positioned at one side of said sheet comprising, a plurality of tubular diamond shaped members arranged with their adjacent corners in close relation but with a space therebetween extending substantially the length of said members, means for creating a flow of air through said space, and means for supporting said members in close spaced relation, said last-named means presenting openings for varying the volume of air flowing through said space at a plurality of points along its length.

JOHN L. DRAKE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,015,404 Schewczik Jan. 23, 1912 1,550,428 Corl Aug. 18, 1925 2,042,610 Littleton June 2, 1936 2,125,914 Haight Aug. 9, 1938 2,158,669 Amsler May 16, 1939 2,201,286 Bundy May 21, 1940 2,246,053 Magrini June 17, 1941 2,254,227 Lewis Sept. 2, 1941 2,278,328 Magrini Mar. 31, 1942 2,352,539 Halbach et a1 June 27, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 541,049 Great Britain Nov. 11, 1941 658,208 France Jan. 22, 1929 

